Jewel Cichlids | Mid Size Tank Terrors

Jewel Cichlids are a type of African
Cichlid with bright red coloring and pretty blue spots and an all
around awesome appearance. In theory. In reality, Jewel Cichlids are
aggressive little psychopaths who will spend half their time trying
to kill fish in your tank and the other half trying to suicide on the
floor.

When faced with Jewel Cichlids,
many keepers will coo and aww over them, saying how lovely they look.
I would advise staying away from them. I have kept two females of
this species. One is dead, because after seeing how mercilessly
bullied she was getting, I moved her into a separate tank, only for
her to leap out of it onto the floor. Idiot fish. She died because
she did this when we were out, though for all I know the fall killed
her. Idiot fish.

The remaining Jewel Cichlid (aka, idiot
fish Mk II) is currently doing its best to leap out of the 70 gallon
it calls home. I know no real reason for why it would try to do this,
the water parameters are okay and the water is clean. It's not being
bullied, being the biggest fish in the tank, and yet all it wants to
do is hurl itself out of the tank. I have been wondering why she is
trying to do this, but the reality of the situation is that many
cichlids like to jump and a well fitting hood is essential for any
fish, no matter what kind of fish it is. Even if the fish looks too
big and cumbersome to jump out, don't trust it.

From what I can tell, Jewel Cichlids
just like to jump, and probably jump more when they're hungry. So if
you insist on getting these mid sized terrors (Jewel Cichlids usually
top out at 15 centimeters, or occasionally 10 centimeters,) make sure
they are well fed and have a hood that fits properly. They can easily
clear a jump of 5 inches.

The other piece of information you
should be aware of is that the brightly colored pictures of Jewel
Cichlids are usually pictures of a certain species of Jewel Cichlids
in its breeding colors. Most Jewel Cichlids commonly available are
not bright red, if anything they tend to be a pale pinkish color with
red finnage and blue / red sparkles.

Is there anything else you need to know
about these cichlids? Well, like most cichlids, they are filthy
eaters and will happily strew waste from one side of your tank to the
other, mine is so bad that the Synodontis catfish actually follows
around after it at feeding time, eating the vast amounts of food
which escape this fish's mouth.